The Kia Seltos held a 58% share of the mid-size SUV market in the first five months of 2020. The MG Hector too accounted for more than half the total sales the premium SUV space. Both companies are now in the process of ramping up operations after the lockdown.

Arthur Yu, JLR's vice president and China chief financial officer, said the Chinese banks that would provide it with the three-year revolving loan include Bank of China, ICBC, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank.

SUV as May’s best seller is quite an amusement in times of Covid-19 era. Creta bagged the top slot at a time when car sales have reduced to a trickle and pricier tags are getting scarce on the wishlist. Creta’s feat in May could be a mere exception to its huge booking backlog, but it signals the strength of Indian customers’ propensity to spend on bigger-better vehicles in harsh times. The numbers feat is only based on the deliveries made in May, which were originally either sold or booked before May and pre-Covid-19 times.

After spending almost three months into the coronavirus crisis, auto companies have better understood the vulnerability of their supply-chains. In the ETAuto’s third virtual roundtable, some of the best minds of the industry discussed the need to maximise localisation in order to minimise dependence on foreign markets without compromising on quality of the product.

​​ The company, however, remains optimistic on the long-term growth prospects of the domestic two-wheeler industry. It has gathered from a survey that more people are now willing to buy a two-wheeler in order to stay safe and maintain social distancing amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“At a rough estimate, about 25 to 30 percent of the people working in this area constitute women. However, they are only restricted to simpler chores, especially at tea shops or dhabas,” Shanti Devi said, being proud of walking the road not taken.

The Hinduja Group flagship company also expects the situation due to the current downturn in the industry, most recently due to the coronavirus pandemic, to improve gradually during the current fiscal.

In order to exhibit the model stretches of national highways as per norms, NHAI plans to develop 57 stretches of NH (1,735 kms) across the length and breadth of the country near each state capital, the NHAI official said. These model stretches will serve as a platform to instruct the highway engineers.